Gottfried Mairwöger (1951 – 2003) is the painter who lets us experience his impressions in the picture itself, beyond photos and videos. He seeks out the foreign, staying in exotic places that define his life anew. He searches for the inklings of worlds. In his abstractions, we encounter ourselves and experience the fullness and radiance of his colours. His experiences with American colour field painting pivotal – allowing the colour itself to play the active role in the act of painting and surrendering oneself to colour as the determining artist. Mairwöger’s paintings tend far less toward reality than toward philosophy in colour and toward his own self as an abstract structure.

This lavishly illustrated book traces the life, work and artistic career of the painter Gottfried Mairwöger, who died young. His artworks, for which he was awarded the Otto Mauer Prize in 1982, are represented in numerous museums and public collections, both in Austria and internationally.